Patreon LogoYour support makes Blue Moon possible (Patreon)

Shadows of Kagemusha (Visual Novel World) [CLOSED]

steelsmiter

Dwarf King
Joined
Sep 17, 2018
Location
Arkansas, USA
Discord Server where dice rolls are handled
System Books, (Though you only need the core rulebook)

Rules, Setup, and World Info
Characters

In a fictional town called Kagemusha (in a location corresponding to the real world Kagoshima Prefecture), there's a University that deals in Theoretical Physics and has quite a bit more electronics than one would think a town of its low population should have. The town's been there for around 400 years, and for the majority of its history things have been happening that are... Weird. A few years ago, there were reports of weird creatures on campus. Some students and teachers disappeared. One teacher and 3 students turned up dead. Those that were afraid left. Those that remained reported a sharp upsurge in erotic feelings, and some pregnancies among them. Strange lights filled the sky. The next day, the faculty of Special College K closed the school down to all but a select few faculty and students for about a week. No one knows why, but within the next few days of hiatus, the strangeness suddenly stopped. Some of the staff came back from the shut down... changed. Before the shutdown, the brochure read:

Special College K is a College that is slowly branching out of Junior College status and broadening its curriculum to include classes outside home economics, nursing, teaching, the humanities, and social sciences in their curricula. Those classes are still available, but Special College K also includes accounting, business, computer science, education, engineering, law, med school, and various sciences.

Special College K is also known for its extensive Co-ed athletics department, one of a small, but growing number of schools that allows both males and females to perform on the same team. Co-ed athletic activities include Archery, Baseball, Basketball, Gymnastics, Judo, Kendo, Swimming, and Track.

Rumors abound that the students learned a thing or two more than they bargained for about Kagemusha's University and nearby Electronics Zaibatsu. Two years after the weird event on campus, someone wrote a fictional game featuring a feudal era Kagemusha, a nearby cavern complex, and many, many, varieties of tentacle beasts and goo monsters (doesn't have to be tentacle monsters if people would prefer a more fantasy, less Hentai feel). The game feels so real, and can leave players uneasy for a few days, as if they spent a long time in a wave pool.

The university itself has changed. There's a Co-Ed Mixed Martial Arts club now too, what with the sport gaining popularity over the last few years. You wouldn't think that males and females should be fighting each other, but suffice it to say that the faculty is really egalitarian in that regard, along with all their other equality concessions.

I would like to point out that characters of other races are permitted on a case by case basis due to the region having a history of supernatural influence. Also Mikos beware, there is a shrine to the local Kami who is quite a bit more lewd than you'd expect what amounts to a god to be. There is a room called a "Humility Room" that some of the mikos resistant to the idea of a lewd god sometimes sleep in to stay humble. It has had its original door replaced with a Men's Bathroom Door as a result of a fight with a pyromancer and--details are a bit fuzzy here, possibly an eldritch abomination? Older Mikos tell of highly sexual hallucinations, or possibly visions of past events that occurred, along with a worrying explosion of Mount Sakurajima.

So TL;DR- The game takes place in Modern Kagemusha, in which the characters are all students either in the MMA club, or the Electronics Club, or both. Supernatural races and Adventure Mode characters are allowed with provisions, and Mikos are different than you'd expect a Miko to be if you have pre-existing expectations of them.

Other: It looks like this game may have multiple Senpais, though if I end up creating a Senpai everyone's down for, I'm cool. Only thing I don't want is dick on dick. If I'm playing a female senpai she'll be bi. If I'm playing a character of either variety with a dick, they'll want females. The default assumption for this game is that the players are females, although there are some Archetypes, which when taken can logically be valid male builds.
 
Last edited:
So my ideal situation would be to have 6 characters. I'll be making several NPCs, and determining Senpai(s) based on what potential players want out of this game.
 
Well, I thought this game was gonna get going on another site, but it failed because the IC thread got derailed so now I'm gonna try it again here.
 
Yep, she was

Here:

Character Sheet
Name: Reiko Hijiwara
Age:21
Archetypes: Bokukko, Wrench Wench, Dancer
Looks:
wY7PqbO.jpg
Curious Eyes, Shaggy Hair, Slim Body (Cup Size C), Coveralls

Reiko is a motorhead. She spends most of the day in the garage working on the car. But that takes money, and that money has to come from somewhere, as does tuition. In this case, she gets it by moonlighting in the local strip club. She is strongly motivated to keep her two worlds apart as much as she can, but that is often easier said than done.

Drive: Artisanship
Senpai: ???
RL: 1 RP: 0

Attributes
Cool: +2 (Core)
Hot: +2
Smarts: 0
Sports: -1
Weird: -1

Bruises: 2
Blood: 2

Starting Moves
Tomboy (Volleyball)
Fixer Upper (3 Armor, 2 Passengers, 2 Control)
Magical Dance (Adv 10)

Bonds: (+3 for Hot 2+1)
Junko +1
Yui+2
Akira +1
School Board +2
Strip Club Mentor (Akiko?) +1
Rival Auto Shop -2
Religious Protest Group -2


Equipment:
2,500 yen
Random Tool
Multitool
Duct Tape
Handkerchief Stained with Oil
Costumes/Change of Clothes
 
Last edited:
One of the Guys (94)
FYI, in the latest iteration of the rules, which puts Adventure Mode in its own book entirely, one of the changes was that the starting move for Wrench Wench is Fixer Upper. There's also been some additions to both books (including page reference changes) so might not hurt to redownload.
 
Name: Junko Matsuda
Age: 21
Archetypes: Sukeban, Bokukko, Sports Star
Looks: Angry eyes; short black hair; toned, muscular body; obvious sarashi and gym shorts. (1 2)
Drive: Assert Superiority
Senpai: Akira Takeba
RL: RP:

Attributes
Cool
: +1
Hot: +1
Smarts: 0
Sports: +2
Weird: -1

Bruises: 5
Blood: 5

Starting Moves
  • Tomboy (Drinking Contests)
  • Entourage(Bootlickers)
    • Accoutrements: weapons
    • Skills: crime, politics
    • Weaknesses: none
  • Athleticism (Judo)

Equipment
- Set of sporting pads
- A water bottle of vitamin supplement
- Spare change of clothes
- A multitool
- 500 yen
- A baseball bat
- A pack of cigarettes
- A flask of sake
- A dark leather jacket

GPA: 4.0
Bonds:
- Eiji Matsuda -3: Junko's younger brother. After being soundly defeated in a sparring match by her, Eiji and his friends later ambushed and raped her in revenge.
- Akiko Sato +1: Junko is jealous of her apparent closeness to Akira, but is pretty sure the "rivalry" is one-sided. She'll protect her from the other boys.
- Reiko Hijiwara +2: Junko helps her work on her motorcycle by test driving it every now and then.
- Yui Sakamoto +2: Fellow club MMA member. Junko thinks she's a nice girl, and will protect her from the boys like she does the rest of the girls.
- Dai Gowa +2: Used to be suspicious of him perving on the girls in the sports clubs, but realized he's probably ace.
- Shiro Sayama +1: Junko had a drinking contest with him, then they woke up naked in bed together. She had a good laugh, and he was polite and apologetic about it.
 
Last edited:
Bonds:
- Eiji Matsuda -3 (4): Junko's younger brother. After being soundly defeated in a sparring match by her, Eiji and his friends later ambushed and raped her in revenge.
Well, I'm not sure if I should add that in the tags tags or if it's best as background.
 
It also bears mentioning that Bonds calculation for this game will be either Sportsx2 or Hot+1, whichever is more advantageous to the character. Negative bonds can be taken up to -4, and their points redeemed for positive bonds. Prospective players should get with me to determine what sort of negative bonds are applicable.
 
Hey, I'd love to give this game a try! Big fan of Powered-by-the-Apocalypse stuff, always keen to see things built off that engine.

I've taken a stab at putting together a Tsundere Otaku - Yui Sakamoto, the 'retro-gaming princess of the Kagemusha Electronics Club' (though it's best not to use that phrase in her earshot). She is, presumably, hiding a massive crush on one of its members (or some other fellow student).

Name: Yui Sakamoto
Age: 22
Archetypes: Tsundere, Otaku
Looks: Defiant eyes, flowing hair, crossed arms, schoolgirl clothes (or cosplay-ish clothes, depending on whether she has class that day).
1609669608449.png

Drive: Show Off
Whenever you impress someone with your luck, skills, or wealth, Mark 1 RP.
(How this manifests is up to Senpai, but it is never "I show off", and it's never mere success at a roll, or 10+,or 12+. It's how you attacked that creature, or the extravagant detail you put into the impressive displays you purchased with your Zaibatsu Hold.)
Senpai: Akira Takeba
RL: 1 RP: 0

Attributes
Cool
: +2
Hot: +0
Smarts: +1
Sports: -1
Weird: +1

Bruises: 5
Blood: 5
GPA: 2.0

Starting Moves
  • Zettai Ryouiki
    Whenever you wear “thigh high”socks, stockings, or other such footwear and a short skirt, you may hold 1 to spend on either Turn Someone On, or Nukige. This hold lasts until you spend it or the next session/episode (whichever comes first). While you retain hold from this move, you cannot generate more hold from it until you spend the hold.
  • Runs Hot and Cold
    At the beginning of a session, you gain hold equal to your +Weird. You may spend 1 hold at any time to reflexively switch your +Hot and +Cool modifiers. This does not change your core attribute or anything that is based on it, but does affect things that are specifically based on+Hot or +Cool.
  • Hobbyist (Arcade Games)
    Whenever you engage in your hobby, you have +1 Ongoing with its associated tasks.
    (For Arcade Games: Dancing, Driving, Free Throws, Read a Situation in Adventure Mode).

Equipment:
  • 1500 yen
  • A container holding 2 uses of Mystery Food X.
  • An old photograph with me and senpai
  • A portable game console
  • Several pounds of anime and manga - both electronic and hard copies
  • Prophylactics (3 uses)
  • Dreamscape coin
  • A laptop filled with Visual Novels
Bonds:
  • Dai Gowa +1: Athletic Director Dai Gowa's father Shinji saved me 7 years ago. The least I can do is figure out what happened to him.
  • Reiko Hijiwara +2: Reiko and I have been friends since childhood. I know she has my back.
  • Junko Matsuda -2: I will never let myself lose to Junko Matsuda!

I wasn't sure how to handle equipment if you only take two archetypes - do you just add three extra items from either of your two lists?
 
Last edited:
Hey, I'd love to give this game a try! Big fan of Powered-by-the-Apocalypse stuff, always keen to see things built off that engine.

I've taken a stab at putting together a Tsundere Otaku - Yui Sakamoto, the 'retro-gaming princess of the Kagemusha Electronics Club' (though it's best not to use that phrase in her earshot). She is, presumably, hiding a massive crush on one of its members (or some other fellow student).

Name: Yui Sakamoto
Age: 21
Archetypes: Tsundere, Otaku
(...)

Starting Moves
  • Zettai Ryouiki
    Whenever you wear “thigh high”socks, stockings, or other such footwear and a short skirt, you may hold 1 to spend on either Turn Someone On, or Nukige. This hold lasts until you spend it or the next session/episode (whichever comes first). While you retain hold from this move, you cannot generate more hold from it until you spend the hold.
  • Runs Hot and Cold
    At the beginning of a session, you gain hold equal to your +Weird. You may spend 1 hold at any time to reflexively switch your +Hot and +Cool modifiers. This does not change your core attribute or anything that is based on it, but does affect things that are specifically based on+Hot or +Cool.
  • Hobbyist (Arcade Games)
    Whenever you engage in your hobby, you have +1 Ongoing with its associated tasks.
    (For Arcade Games: Dancing, Driving, Free Throws, Read a Situation in Adventure Mode).
I see you chose the two archetype route by picking up the second Tsundere move as an advanced. Just so you're aware, you are permitted to take on a third archetype later.

Senpai: TBD - someone in the Electronics club?
Either way actually. Akira--the MMA Club's advisor was originally very into video games, and the MMA Club President is a Martial Artist/Idol, who could easily have become an idol through mocap work, but I'm thinking she also works a local club. The Electronics Club Advisor's original build has changed as well. He's an alum, but went on to create a Zaibatsu based on the creation and testing of really good VR--on the level of braindances--and is responsible for the Shadows of Kagemusha video game in the first place. Strangely neither of those men are actual faculty.

Equipment:
  • 1000 yen
  • A container holding 2 uses of Mystery Food X.
  • An old photograph with me and senpai
  • A portable game console
  • Several pounds of anime and manga - both electronic and hard copies
  • Prophylactics (3 uses)
  • +3 items?
(...)
I wasn't sure how to handle equipment if you only take two archetypes - do you just add three extra items from either of your two lists?
Yep, pretty much.

Bonds:
  • +1 (TBD)
I see you have none of the attributes this setting uses to calculate bonds. You get that +1, plus you can gain further bond points by taking on negative bonds. This allows up to -4 bonds, which return the bond value for single bonds, or plus a modifier depending on the group size.

Anywho, I think that's it. Might hop on over to discord for addressing any further comments, questions, and concerns, in case someone else wants in on it so the thread does't get swamped. The sheet looks good enough that I don't see any major changes, and any changes you make can just be edited into the original post.
 
After working over @ippo's bonds (updated since this post was originally written), here's what they should look like. The confusion appears to have been a guess that the effective RL was tied to bond cost. Bond cost is 1 for 1 on individual bonds with either +1, +2 or +3 for small, medium, or large groups. I was debating not posting this since I figured out how to explain it, BUT I figured it might be easier to just leave it here so it's easier reference

What they did was think that the effective RL of the bond was the bond cost, so they though they'd spent the 4 points from GPA and the 4 points from their negative (group) bond, on what's effectively +1 bond interactions. This puts their bonds at 0 as shown

Bond ScoreBond ValueBond Description
-3-4Eiji and his Entourage
+1+1Akiko
+1+1Reiko
+1+1Yui
+1+1Dai
Total+0

As mentioned in PMs, they can eat up the other four points by making them +2 bonds (which means an effective comfort zone of RL 5)
 
Last edited:
image0.jpg
image1.jpg
Name: Akihiro Shirogane

Archetypes: Otaku/Martial Artist/Accidental Pervert

Looks: Focused eyes, long down hair, fit body, baggy clothes and headphones
Drive: Acceptance and Recognition

Senpai: Akiko Sato
RL: 2 RP: 1

Attributes:
Cool:
+0
Hot: +1
Smarts: +1
Sports: +2 (Core)
Weird: -1

GPA: 4.0
Bruises: 2
Blood: 2

Starting Moves:
-Slip and Slash Magnet
-Eye For Technique (Karate)
-Heir to the Dojo
-Hobbyist(Novels)

Advanced Moves:
N/a

Equipment:
-1,000 yen
-A multi-tool
-Bobby pin
-A journal
-An heirloom sword
-A metal of your first competition(1st place)
-A laptop filled with visual novels
-A portal game console
-Prophylactics (3 uses)
-SatoVR Visor (Properties other than SatoVR access unknown)
-SatoVR Gloves (Properties other than SatoVR interactions unknown)
-Dream Coin

Bonds:
-Akira Takeba: +2
-Tetsuo Sato: +2
-Yoshito Harada: +1
-Dai Gowa: +1
-Writing Group: +1
-Female Students: -1
-Hanako Tanaka: +1

Bio: Akihiro isn’t anything special. He led an uneventful life for the most part. All 20 years of it. But there were a few things that stood out. One of these is his family’s talent for physical activity and sports.

His grandfather is a martial artist. His training dates back nearly his entire life. He even owns a martial arts school, with several branches across Japan.

His father is a baseball expert, who coached for over 20 years. The man even teamed up with a good friend, and fellow baseball coach, to open up a small baseball academy. They train young athletics from elementary school to college age.
His oldest brother is a heavyweight boxer, with a good amount of wins under his belt.

Finally, his twin brother is an active member of his school’s swim team. He is training to become a member of law enforcement, but isn’t exactly the definition of a model student.

Akihiro has experience with sports as well. He played on the elementary team of his father’s academy for a few years, was a member of the swim team throughout both middle and high school, and actively trains in martial arts. His teacher is his own grandfather, who trained him and his brothers at a young age.

However, Akihiro stopped focusing on sports for a long time.

The young man looks up to his family for their hard work, but doesn’t want to go into sports as a life career. His dream is to chase a career in writing, which started after winning an amateur writing contest in high school. His family try to support his goal, but still worry about him.

His muse keeps fading and he never finishes a single work, other than poems and short stories. They fear it will be a waste of his life, mostly his parents.

However, Akihiro ignores their worry, thinking they are just weighing him down.

Another thing to note is his relationship with the fairer sex. One that isn’t very good.

This all started back in middle school, during puberty. He started getting into bad situations, which painted him as a pervert. All of these were accidents, but most of his female classmates didn’t listen to reason. A few did, thankfully.

This habit of getting into trouble got him suspended, given detention, got looks from dads, and threatened to be expelled. He didn’t know why this always happened to him, but his mind stopped caring after a certain point. Any other time something perverted happens, he either tries to defend himself or accepts his fate.

He is still a virgin and never had a girlfriend because of bad luck.

Despite his talent for sports, he doesn’t want to be accepted because of them. His goal is to have people see him as a smart and creative person for his writing. Getting accepted into a good school because of how far he throws a ball or how fast he can run was beyond insulting for him. There were many others who were more deserving of being placed in top rate colleges.
 
Last edited:
So FYI, we are underway, but the group is in a courtyard where there are hundreds of people Many people who are currently pink blobs could suddenly become relevant including
  • A Lab Assistant with the Science Club
  • A godfreak with the weird religious organization
  • A mechanic from a shady chop shop that's somehow rented space in Special K's courtyard
  • One of the blobs already playing on the SatoVR globes.
  • A random student wandering around
  • A random student trying to get food from Sayama-sensei
  • A random student trying to get a "special order" while Sayama-sensei is masturbating because of all the naked people
 
Still willing to take applicants from among those above, and potentially from SatoVR employees! Wrapping up the first in game day soon, and after that, we'll do a Montage and skip forward to both the next Real World MMA tournament, and/or SatoVR event.
 
Still willing to take applicants from among those above, and potentially from SatoVR employees! Wrapping up the first in game day soon, and after that, we'll do a Montage and skip forward to both the next Real World MMA tournament, and/or SatoVR event.
That still stands. Some secondary event occurred off screen involving a security breach at SatoVR.
 
Alrighty. After looking at the system more, I feel like I could get with this! Here's a character that I've come up with. Hopefully, I did this correctly. I was planning on going with the concept of an excitable yet lonely lab assistant in the Science Club who's developed a bit of a crush on the MMA Club President.

Name: Ichika Hirayama
Gender: Female
Age: 22
Archetypes: Meganekko / Genki Girl
Look: Bespectacled Eyes, Long Hair, Lithe Body, School Uniform
xuBxBfA.jpg
Cup Size: B
Drive: Friendship
Senpai: Akiko Sato
GPA: 3.0
RL: 1 RP: 0

Attributes:
  • Cool: +/- 0
  • Hot: -1
  • Smarts: +2 (Core)
  • Sports: +1
  • Weird: +1
Bruises: 4 Blood: 4

Moves:
  • Coordinates Your Efforts (Starting Move)
When your bespectacled-eyes carefully scan over the area, you provide undeniably sound tactical advice, expressed in an elegantand poetic fashion to your would-be students. Roll +Smarts. On a 10+, you may ask anyone a question from Assess list and choose 2 of the following. On a 7-9, choose 1:
  • You and your allies get +1 forward to the next move they make.
  • You and your allies get a +1 forward to their next damage rolls.
  • Your insight provides an opening in the enemy's defense that can be exploited.
  • The next time you or one of your allies would take damage, they take half that damage instead.
  • Honor Student (Starting Move)
You start with GPA 1 point higher than normal (if possible), and always treat 6- on Exams, study-related Montages, and Pop Quiz as if you rolled 7-9 instead. Other than being used for a slightly different set of moves, this is identical to the Iinchou's Work Ethic.
  • Enthusiasm (Starting Move)
When you read a situation/person involving a new place or new people, add these to the available questions:
  • How could I be accepted by the people her?
  • How could I best attract attention here?
  • What is making your character feel this way?
  • How could I make your character feel _____?
  • Curiosity (Advanced Move)
When you put yourself at risk to check something out, ask Senpai any one question related to the risks and roll +Weird. On a10+,Senpai will answer it, as clearly as the circumstances allow. On a 7-9, the Senpai will tell you what more you need to do to find the answer yourself.

Equipment:
  • 2,500 Yen (Combining the 500 Yen from Genki Girl archetype & 2000 Yen from the Meganekko archetype)
  • A journal to record all the exciting things of the day
  • Candy (3 uses)
  • Extra writing utensils and a wedge eraser
  • Research Notes
Bonds:
Hanako Tanaka (+1): Ichika gets along amicable with Hanako. Well, the other girl isn't too "put off" by her easily excitable nature.
Kagoishi Jinko (+1): She has a fascination for Kagoishi's medical training and crazy knife skills. It's a bit scary ... but kind of cool.
Science Club (+2): She's a respected member of the club. The club members are kind of the only friends she has.
Akiko Sato (-1): Ichika has made a fool of herself various times, trying to catch the attention of the MMA President. This has lead to a bad first impression.
 
Last edited:
Ah, whoops! Sorry, I didn't realize that this was in 2021. Not 2022. Apologizes, I got tripped up (for some stupid reason). I'm guessing this game isn't active.
 
Ah, whoops! Sorry, I didn't realize that this was in 2021. Not 2022. Apologizes, I got tripped up (for some stupid reason). I'm guessing this game isn't active.
Hey absolutely no problem, I do kind of feel bad that you went to the trouble to create a character though.

Are we starting this up again?
It's a tough call. I would have to dig everything back up and try to figure out where to go from there. I would have to consider this response by me a roll call. Possibly a sounding board to see how we should proceed if enough of the original cast still wants in. Since I wrote this game idea, I've since played another game on elliquiy that took place in an America in a household where a single mom of one son works for a company that did an OS like in Ready Player One (which they integrated with the framework of this game's VR game). Due to the magic of SoK, the merger was wildly successful

While I was playing that I decided a few things
  1. That game is canon despite not being a fully fledged visual novel world mechanical basis
  2. That game made me realize that visual novel world doesn't work particularly well to emulate JRPGs, but something needed to be done because JRPGs are a significant part of the canon of the Province of Kagemusha (As @Idlewyld will tell ya, I'm currently working on a JRPG)
  3. That may conflict with this game, because as yet, this game hasn't had any supernatural influence. The way I'm handling it there is that the supernatural influence usually only happens in the VR environment. I had considered the possibility of having some leakage here, but dunno how well that's going to work
So I guess, what do, and who is still here and for what are people who are still here, still here for. I will also need to look over and see if I can either get a spark of memory or a spark of inspiration for what I wanted to do after the planned Montage.
 
Back
Top Bottom